“On Sunday, after blowing a 22-point lead against Phoenix, that was clearly the closet team to them in the standings, and Phoenix is not in the playoffs right now. They are close, a half-game back of Memphis and Dallas for eighth spot, but they’ve won four in a row and are not in. They are the closet team to the Wolves and they had on them on their court, and let them off the hook, as Dennis Green would say, and the Timberwolves have not had the ability to defend this year. I mean, I think are they are fourth in scoring at a 106 a game, and that’s terrific. That’s a playoff team. Kevin Love is one of the best players in this league, one of the top six players with this incredible year, 26 points and 13 rebounds, but when you look after the scoring what they are doing, they don’t stop anybody when they are allowing teams to shoot 47%. That’s too close to 50 percent. That’s 30th in the league, and that’s why they are not going to make the playoffs again.”

Thurn asked Fitzgerald, Sr., to put on Kevin Love’s shoes and if he would stick around in Minnesota?

“Well, it’s hard to put myself in his position, being a guy from California. His dad has relations to the Beach Boys. I don’t know if he has a music background, or is thinking along those lines, but I would stay here. I would enjoy being a big fish in a small pond. He’s already one of the top players in the league. He started in the All-Star game.”

Fitzgerald Sr., on the new NFL rule penalizing players for dunking the football over the goalposts:

“It’s strange that the league seems to every offseason when they have their meetings, get together in a room, and what can we do that is something we can take away from this game that is too much for these guys. So, I think this is one of those decisions that they made they feel that they want to take away. I think it is unfortunate, but what the NFL does, is they do what they do. That’s why they continue to make money, that’s why the owner of the Dallas Mavericks (Mark Cuban) came out the other day and made a comment about the NFL is going to bite off too much one day because of the way they have dominated in ratings. The way they continued to expand their games on Sunday’s to Monday and Thursday, and late in the year on Saturday’s that is infringing on the others. They think the brand is getting too big, and sooner than later, someone is going to bite them and is going to start backing up.”

Fitzgerald Sr., on the Minnesota Vikings quarterback situation:

“I think with Mike Zimmer, he is coming in with a fresh slate, and he’s got a defensive mindset. So, that’s where the Vikings have pretty much spread their money in the unrestricted free agency situations. I think they got themselves an outstanding nosetackle, and are going to be able to stop people first now. Last year, they couldn’t do anything. They couldn’t stop you on the run, from throwing. They gave up 480 points, and uh, that’s why they missed the playoffs and had to change coaches. I think now, though, they are coming back with a quarterback, Matt Cassel, who won all five of their games. He started in them. So, they see him basically, having an understanding and grasp for this offense, and are brining in an offensive coordinator, Norv Turner, who can tweak it and take advantage of the explosiveness potentially on the outside, and with the great, Adrian Peterson. So, it should be an exciting situation if they let this thing play out. As far as Michael Vick, I probably wouldn’t have gone after him in my view even though I disagree with Adrian Peterson. I think Vick has probably seen his better days.”

To hear more of Thurn’s interview with Fitzgerald, Sr., listen below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

***Readers can email Sam Tastad at tastadsam@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @samtastad***

Welcome back to Mix VIP Club

It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on .
To keep your personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you.
To activate your account, please confirm your password.
When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites.

*Please note that your prizes and activities will not be shared between programs within our VIP network.

Welcome back to Mix VIP Club

It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to http://mix97-3.com using your original account information.